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KMBZ is the oldest surviving station in Kansas City,[citation needed] first going on the air on April 5, 1922, with the callsign WPE, and the second oldest radio station in the state of Missouri (behind only St. Louis' WEW).

In 1997, Bonneville sold its entire Kansas City cluster, which by then consisted of KMBZ, KLTH, KCMO (AM) and KCMO-FM, to Entercom Communications. KMBZ consistently ranks as the most listened talk radio station in the Kansas City market.

Rush Limbaugh got his start in political commentary on the station in 1983. He continues to be heard on KMBZ both in his live slot and on an overnight replay, one of only a handful of stations (KTTH in Seattle being another) that airs Limbaugh in the overnight hours.

The station now carries Limbaugh's nationally syndicated show along with those of Glenn Beck, and Adam Bold, as well as local hosts EJ Becker, Ellen Schenk, Jonathan Weir, Dana Wright & Scott Parks and Darla Jaye,[2] and George Noory's Coast to CoastAM, the highest rated overnight radio show.

Though KMBZ was the Kansas City Royals flagship station for some time, their format is currently mostly news and political talk. However, beginning in 2009 the Royals returned to KMBZ, as part of a partnership with KCSP. The station is also the western flagship for the Missouri Tigers radio network, broadcasting football, men's and women's basketball and the "Tiger Talk" coach's show.

In 2009, KMBZ began simulcasting its program on sister station KUDL's HD3 subchannel. On March 24, 2011, Entercom announced that on March 30, KUDL's analog FM broadcasts would become a full-time simulcast of KMBZ as KMBZ-FM. [1]. It was announced on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 starting Monday, January 5, 2015, KMBZ-AM will stop simulcasting with KMBZ-FM and become known as Talk 980; the AM side will carry a mostly network lineup with the full Premiere Networks slate.